Sourcing standards
Sourcing and provenance glossary
Short answer
Sourcing and intelligence terms
| Term | Official meaning |
|---|---|
| Originator | The author, producer or owner of a source. For intelligence sources it can be the publishing element or a liaison service's country 1 |
| Source reference citation | A numbered endnote that should reference the most original source presenting the information 1 |
| Source descriptor | A brief narrative of factors that affect or indicate the quality or credibility of a single source 1 |
| Source summary statement | An account of the strengths and weaknesses of the sources together, including which are meaningfully corroborative or conflicting 1 |
| Source evaluation code | In the Europol Regulation, A to C and X, from no doubt about the source to reliability that cannot be assessed 9 |
| Information evaluation code | In the Europol Regulation, 1 to 4, from accuracy not in doubt to not known personally to the source and not corroborated 9 |
| Corroboration (Scots law) | Evidence from at least two independent sources, as the Scottish Government describes the rule 5 |
| Mutual corroboration (Moorov doctrine) | Single witnesses to different incidents corroborating each other where the incidents are similar in time, character and circumstance 5 |
Image credit terms
Provenance terms
| Term | Official meaning |
|---|---|
| Manifest | The set of information about the provenance of an asset, based on one or more assertions 2 |
| Claim | A digitally signed, tamper-evident data structure that references a set of assertions about an asset 2 |
| Hard binding | One or more cryptographic hashes that identify the whole asset or a portion of it 2 |
| Soft binding | A content identifier that is not statistically unique, such as a fingerprint 2 |
| Deep fake | AI-generated or manipulated image, audio or video that resembles existing persons, objects, places, entities or events and would falsely appear to be authentic or truthful 4 |
| Provenance data (California) | Information about the origin of digital content and its history of modifications, in a format compliant with widely adopted specifications 10 |
| Large online platform (California) | A public-facing platform or stand-alone search engine that exceeded 2,000,000 unique monthly users in the preceding 12 months 10 |
Research publication terms
| Term | Official meaning |
|---|---|
| Duplicate publication | Publication of a paper that overlaps substantially with one already published, without clear, visible reference to the earlier publication 6 |
| Secondary publication | Allowed with approval from both editors, for a different readership, with a note citing the primary paper 6 |
| Retraction | A mechanism for correcting the literature and alerting readers to articles whose findings and conclusions cannot be relied upon 7 |
| Expression of concern | A notice an editor can publish when uncertain about a paper's reliability, where information is insufficient or delayed 7 |
| Unit of interest | In a systematic review, the study rather than the report 8 |
Common questions
What is the difference between a source descriptor and a source summary statement?
ICD 206 uses a descriptor for a single source and a summary statement for the sources taken together 1.
What is a deep fake in EU law?
AI-generated or manipulated image, audio or video that resembles real persons, places or events and would falsely appear authentic 4.
What does hard binding mean in C2PA?
One or more cryptographic hashes identifying the whole asset or part of it 2.
What is the unit of interest in a systematic review?
The study, not the report, according to Cochrane 8.
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Sources
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence: ICD 206, Sourcing Requirements for Disseminated Analytic Products (copy hosted by the Federation of American Scientists)
- C2PA: Content Credentials, C2PA Technical Specification 2.2 (May 2025)
- IPTC: IPTC Photo Metadata Standard 2025.1 (version 2025.1 rev 1, 2025-11-26)
- EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act)
- Scottish Government: The not proven verdict and related reforms, consultation, Part 5 The Corroboration Rule
- ICMJE: Recommendations, Overlapping Publications
- COPE Council: COPE Guidelines, Retraction Guidelines (August 2025)
- Cochrane: Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, Chapter 5, Collecting data
- EUR-Lex: Regulation (EU) 2016/794 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2016 on the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol)
- California Legislative Information: Business and Professions Code, Division 8, Chapter 25, AI Transparency Act
Related
- Intelligence sourcing standards explained
How US Intelligence Community Directives 203 and 206 require analysts to cite, describe and weigh their sources, and what official reviews found.
- C2PA Content Credentials explained
How the C2PA standard attaches signed provenance records to images, video and other files, what those records prove, and what they do not.
- Corroboration rules in criminal law
Where criminal law still requires two independent sources of evidence, from Scotland's general rule to perjury and treason, and where it was abolished.
- Duplicate publication rules in research
What the ICMJE Recommendations say about duplicate and secondary publication, preprints and registry results, and why it matters for evidence.
- Attribution terms explained
What common attribution phrases signal about where a fact came from, and what published newsroom codes in the US, UK and Germany say about using them.